Milwaukee spreads along the western shore of Lake Michigan where the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet, and its freeways converge on downtown at the Marquette Interchange. I-94 runs west from there through the Zoo Interchange toward Waukesha and Madison, and south toward Racine, Kenosha and Chicago. I-43 heads north along the lake toward Green Bay and shares the road with I-94 south to the Mitchell Interchange before splitting off southwest. I-794 crosses the Hoan Bridge toward Bay View and becomes the Lake Parkway to the airport, while I-894 and I-41 bypass the city to the west and US 45 runs north from the Zoo Interchange.
Rush hour stacks up at the Marquette and Zoo interchanges, on I-94 through the Menomonee Valley and on I-43 north of downtown, and a breakdown on any of them is slow to clear in winter. For a mobile mechanic, the city's older neighborhoods are the more common workplace: Riverwest, Bay View, the East Side and Sherman Park are full of duplexes and bungalows with alleys and garages out back, and many cars live on the street. Milwaukee's overnight parking rules mean street-parked cars need the right permit, which is worth keeping in mind when a car won't start at the curb.
Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport sits on the south side, and its parking structures and long-term lots are common service spots. The county bus system covers the metro, a streetcar loops through downtown and the Third Ward, and Amtrak trains run to Chicago from the downtown station and the airport. Marquette University, UW-Milwaukee on the East Side and the large medical center campus in Wauwatosa bring heavy daily traffic, as do the lakefront festival grounds in summer.